Apparatus for making tubs



uly 27, 1943. R. MA cHEsNEY APPARATUS FOR MAKING TUBS Original FiledAug. 15, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l July 27, 1943- R. M. cHr-:sNEY

I APPARATUS FOR MAKING TUBS original Filed Aug. 15, 1941 2 Sheets-SheetY2 Fig. a

Fig.

I J mo MLM applcationerial No. 406,992', nledAugus `1213441, for Methodand apparatusor nakiiigV .ferent lengths hy Weldingbellfendfb'lanksofblanks is .accomplished by mak-ingthewfbellwith differentbottornslopesso; that, des@U `.difference between their lengths, theyall have Patented July 27, 1943 RQbertfM. onesiey; Alliaoe, ohio,assigner to Y `The steel YSwmitary Company, Amante fome,

-av corporation This invention relates@ the manufaeure o 'f- .tubs and,more partioula/rh( toappa'ratii's o ,Rodman Patent No, 2,135,877,

ferent sizes to 4icle'ntioal drainfe-riolblanksAl essential that thedepth of all the` bell-endblanks .at the .openrend thelgeofafter trimminstantially Aidentical to the depth Q fjth drainend tef .die

.the san-ie depth lat their open end Iheimethod disclosed in said patentrequires afpunch recinroeable througha `die and., havingjon lil'eneth;

seriesof diierent Vvholstein shoes attaehed ev to, cooperating with oneof a series -Qnrenne pads. I haYeinventedanoVel method and-apparatus formakingqbel-end blanks odiilerent lengths but of the samedepth at ,theiropenend when trmmedwhereby yI avoid-the neoessitypf employing a seriesof removable shoesQon he In a preferred embodiment.end-:practice of. neinvention, I use the-same punch, .pressur pad and die nine .t0 forml@Series 0f bell-'Emblems Varying in length. I obtain thedesiredidentnyofthe depths of the blanks of thesevzafllnneths at their open end byappropriatelycontrolling the stroke of the punch, Whioh, or course,determines the depth of 4the resulting blank. .Ifvary the effective`lengths of Vthe punofh for zthevldfiifer Ient sizes of 4blanks by.securing blocks in aV recess inthe bottom ofthe p'unoh.. 'hesehloeksfhave a Vbottom face which slopes downtival?dl-y' on the sameangle as .the bottomof ,therpunchfand thus vforrn a continuation 'for.extnsonltherefl. .I

blank is drawn, at A theloottorn 'ofthe open end of the blank, to limitthe iio'w of metal-longitudinnlly from .Said end between the nlnln andPres'- surepa'd'.Y 'L l l Eurther details'and `I iJ/iel features of theinvention will yloeo'nne apparent during the followingCompletedesrptiohand explanation which Yrefer to" .th .annmpnnying mening'. ,illustratingthe preferred-.embodiment and nfnnnne.- In 'the drawings: A

-..Figure ,1, is a longitudine-'1 yer'oajl section thr'oughth'e Ydieequjpih tvjfor 'drawing bell'een'd tub .blanks 'ofi length?. L Figure ,2i's @,'Snnilnrvview Showing the onnip- .nxonnce a none of ,intermedi-Figure 3 is a siinilarf'new Vshowingthe equipment asset `up for drawinga h lank of maxnum Figur@4 n; is @menomato View snowing Anu@ trate thejdifferene "b 'fetweentheir lengths and ing; the several sizesgof 'tubswhich jeanV oemade .is is'supponedlo ,blocks iswh'ich .rest 'a foon-,dation :IBL Y The die 1 3 4has. an elongated .opening therein, theedges ,of .which afreroude'das shown, Whereand the bottom ofthe punchsloping downwardly #toward the other ondas shown at i9.

-Alpres'surefpad 29 is harriedoh apiston 2l refiDifCat-lg 1in a Cylinder(not ShOWn) against nuidnunder pressure. .fine pas 2a .has its upperfa'oe sloping] downwardly -s at 22, and curved adapted to peeive thebottom vof the me blank 2i! and co-operates with a hardened plate 24secured to the punch I2 at the inner end of a notch or recessed portion25 in the bottom of the punch, to bend up the edge of the sheet Il atthe bottom of the openV end of the blank as indicated at 26. Thisbent-up portion resists iiow of the stock longitudinally between thepunch and pad as the latter descend together.

In the operation of the apparatus described i above, both the heads I0and II are initially retracted and a ilat steel sheet 4of proper size islaid on the die ring I3. The press is then operated to lower the head I0andthe blank holder ring I4. The latter engages the sheet margins andrestrains them against excessive iiowas theV central portion of thesheet `is deformedby the punch. After the sheet II has been gripped bythe lng I4, the pad 29 is raised by controlling the fluid in thecylinder in which the piston 2| reciprocates. The upward movement of thepis- .tonl is limited as by Ta mechanical stop, so that theextremeuppermost position fof the', pad 20 isrdslightlyj below theundeformed flat sheet'of steel.

The press is next operated to cause the lowering of the head II and thepunch I2. The bottom of the punch immediately starts to deform the sheetandthe latter is thereby forced into engagement with the pad 20. Theedge of the sheet is bent up by. the co-action of the block 23 isuiustrated. in Figure 5 where a nnished beuend blank 21 is shownassociated with a drainend blank 23. These blanks are adapted to beformed into a complete'tub body by welding them 1 together along thejoint 29. `To accomplish this welding satisfactorily, it 'obviouslynecessary that the depth of thel blanksjat their' point of abutment besubstantially identical;- Asl illustrated in the drawings, the bell-endblankmade by the die 'equipmentjshown inFigure A1 is that liorthe'shortest tub, i. fe., that shown complete in Figure 5.. l Y

When it is desired to make a bell-end blank for a longer tub Vsuch,asthat shown inFigure 6,

the equipment already described is modied by moving the iiller block 23to a position indicated at23'iin Figure 2 and by attaching a block 30 tothe punch I2' in abutment with the plate 24.

.'Ihe block 30 constitutes a'continuation of the punch, its bottomfacemhaving the sameV slope.

as the bottom of the punch. The equipment as shown in Figure Zoperatesin exactly the same manner as described above, except that a largersheet of stock is employed to produce a bell-end blank 3 I ofintermediate length;

In order that theblank V3I have a depth at its open end the same as thatof the bell-end blank 23, so that identical drain-end blanks maybewelded to all of thedifferentlengths of bell-end blanks, the strokeof-the punch I2. is reduced somewhat by appropriate adjustments Hwhendrawing bell-end blanks of intermediate-length. In other words, thepunch I2 and-pad 20 donot they do whenmaking the blanks 27.V'Ihe'dilerence between the strokes of the press under the two diierentconditions is illustrated at 32 in Figure 2. By this arrangement theblank 3|, although it has the same bottom slope as the blank 21 and ismaterially longer than the latter, has a depth at its open end`precisely the same as that of the blank 2l. This is clearly shown inFigl Similarly, when it is desired to make a bellend blank of stillgreater length, I replace the block 30 by a block 33, and remove theiiller block 23. With this set up, the edge of the steel sheet adjacentthe open end of the blank is bent up as at 34-by the co-operation of theblock 33 with the die ring I3. The operation of the die equipment shownin Figure 3 is the same as that which has been described above exceptthat the stroke of the press is again decreased slightly, as indicatedat 35. The resulting blank 3E is thus shaped to the same bottom slopeasthe shorter blanks 'but has the same depth as the latter at its lopenend. The bottom slopes of the blanks of the various lengths areindicated by the angle a in Figures 5 through 9, and this angle is thesame in all cases. As previously stated, Figure e clearly shows that theseveral sizes of bell-'end blanks,` though having the same' bottom slopebut diierent lengths, lhave the same depth d et their open ends. Theprogressive decrease in the stroke of the punch with the increase in thelength of the blank means that the depth of the longer' blanks adjacentthe closed vend thereof is somewhat less than that of the shorterblanks, but this difference is rather slight,V e. g., approximately 1/4or less, so this difference is not obd jectionable.

It will be apparent lfrom the foregoing description and explanation thatby my invention I am Vable to produce tubs of various lengths by weldingtogether sheet-steel stampingsof different sizes produced on'the sameset of Vdie equipment, the only change necessary being the attachment ofthe blocks 30 or 33 in the case of the Vtwo longer blanks and theAadjustment'of the filler block 23. These parts and the manipulationthereof are quite simple. The blocks 30 and 33 serve merely to` increasethe eiective length of the bottom of thefpunch whereby it is adapted towork on sheets of longer length. It will be apparent that the 'bell-endblanks of different sizes produced according to `my invention have thesame bottom slope, since they are all formed by the same punch and pad,and the blocks 30 and 33 have the same slope on the bottom face as thebottom of the punch. The identity between the depths of the severallengths of blanks at their openends is obtained simply by controllingthe stroke of the punch, i. e., by reducing the stroke slightly `for theblanks of the longer lengths. All the different sizes of blanks are thussuitable after trimming, for welding to identical end blanks to formcompleteY tub bodies in a range of over-all'lengths, e. g., 4% feet, 5,and 5l/gieet." l

vIt will further be apparent that the invention is a marked improvementover the disclosure or Rodman Patent No. 2,114,150 in that removableshoes having diierent lengths, adapted to be secured to the punch, anddiierent pressure pads, are not required for the several sizes ofblanks.

Although I have illustrated'A and described a preferred embodiment of myinvention it will be understood that; changes in the procedure andconstruction of the apparatus may be made withn @out departing from thespirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claim.

t bathtubs `I claim:

Apparatus for makingbell-end blanks ofsevg: 1`

eral diierent lengths for the manufacture of infa range of sizes,comprising` a die ring having an ,elongated opening therein rounded atone end, an elongated punch reciprocable therethrough also rounded atyone f end, a blank-holderring adapted to engage a metal sheet kon saiddie ring,thepunch having' 'l a continuous rounded bottom surface adaptedrounded end toward the other end, said other end of the punch beingoisetfrom said surface tol l the full length of the bottoms of blanks ofvari- 10' form a recess, adjacent the en d of said surface,

a. block removablyrpositioned in said recess and detachably secured tosaid punch, said block'extending longitudinally of said surface asufficient recess.

distance to `shape the additional bottom area of lthe klonger lengths ofblanks and having its bottom sloping at the same angle as said surface,a

single compression pad below said punch having a surface complementaryinshape to said first- `mentioned surface and extending from the round-vedend of the punch to theother endoverlapping said recess, and therebybeingadapted to forni ous lengths, i. e., when lsaid block is attachedto the punch or when it is removed, and a ller block positioned on saidpad to bend up the end of the sheet asthe punch descends into engagementwith said pad, and means for detachably securing said filler block tothe pad both in a position adjacent the inner end of said recess and ina position adjacent the outer end of the rst-rnentioned block when thelatter is positioned in said ROBERT M. CHESNEY.

